Jussi Jokinen

The Islanders came into Pittsburgh Friday night for the first time since last season's playoffs, and just like that series, the Isles caused a lot of headaches for Sidney Crosby and company as they ended up pulling out a miraculous 4-3 win. New York earned their 2 points in over a week and did it in comeback fashion.

In part two of the opening season review we will examine the forwards and their contributions thus far to the season. While some players are keeping to the status quo, a few forwards have started to make their mark on the early season.

Start with the Obvious – The Pittsburgh Penguins top line of Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, and Pascal Dupuis is arguably the strongest line in all of hockey. They have a combined nine goals through six games, seven of which have come while playing five on five hockey.

Here are a few other stats to show how good this line has been. *All statistics are a combined total.

The Pittsburgh Penguins played like a top seed in this opening game of the Stanley Cup playoff series between Pittsburgh and the New York Islanders tonight in Pittsburgh.

The Pens scored five goals, including two on the power play, to blow by an Islander squad that showed little jump all evening. All of this was done without the Pens having their best player as Sidney Crosby is still recovering from the broken jaw he got on March 30th in a game against the Isles.

The 2013 NHL season has come to an end and an impressive push down the stretch by our beloved Isles has secured them the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. For the first time since 2007, the New York Islanders will play post-season hockey and compete for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

However, the real challenge lies ahead for the Islanders, as they will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs. The Penguins basically ran circles around the rest of the Eastern Conference during the lockout-shortened 2013 season, finishing in 1st place with 72 points. (Photo Credit: Beauty Playin 'Eh/Flickr)

Coming into tonight’s head-to-head with the Hurricanes, the Montreal Canadiens hadn’t put two of anything together since the Western road trip that saw them beat the Coyotes and Predators two weeks ago. And it stopped there.

In the first period of this game, a significant portion of Habs’ fans had their eyes on the Bruins/Sabres rematch, and it was difficult to blame them. Jiri Tlusty opened the scoring within the first minute of the game and Anthony Stewart made it 2-0 for the Hurricanes at the 6-minute mark. For the remainder of the opening frame, the Can...